Dr. Robert Greer

With oil hovering at just under $50 a barrel, and the amazing technology of fracking present throughout America’s oil fields, it’s probably wise that someone decided to take an honest look at the current worldwide energy paradigm to see where we might be headed energy-wise. Robert Rapier has done just that in his excellent assessment of America’s and the world’s energy options in his book Power Plays: Energy Options in the Age of Peak Oil.

Dick Cavett's fourth book in 40 years left plenty to talk about. KUVO book reviewer Dr. Robert Greer called Cavett "a mover and shaker with a sharp and sometimes biting wit." Greer take on Cavett's new book, Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments and Assorted Hijinks: "a first rate bookend to his 1970 memoir."

Cavett's interviews with Groucho Marx, Johnny Carson, Muhammed Ali, Steve Jobs and many others are recounted in the book's 288 pages. "Cavett was a master at controlling the conversations he had, be they musicians, writers, artists, or public figures.

The Best American Essays, edited by Cheryl Strayed, is an anthology worth reading if you enjoy the strictly personal narrative. And, although the essays in the collection offer a wide breadth of writing approaches, there's a sameness to them that makes the 2013 collection less than rewarding.

The collection has a round up the usual suspects feel to it, as the essayists deal with the all-too-familiar and the all-too-ordinary.